Société Minière du Sud Pacifique SA (SMSP) is a public limited company with a capital of 394,863,200 XPF. Its head office is located in Ouaco, in the boundaries of Kaala Gomen Municipality in the North Province and its administrative office in the South Province in Nouméa Capital. The group’s shareholdings reflect the fact that it is not only a New Caledonian Company, deep-rooted in the territory, but also a company with a vocation to serve the general interest. The Northern Province holds an 87% stake in the company through SOFINOR, a semi-public company. The Islands Province has 5% through SODIL, also a semi-public company. Finally, small shareholders hold 8% of the company’s shares.
SEMI-PUBLIC COMPANY
The semi-public company, SEM (Sociétés d’Economie Mixte) is a limited company set up by local authorities or their groupings. It has at least seven shareholders, one of whom must be a private individual. Local authorities must have a majority holding of between 50 and 85% of the capital.
The creation of local semi-public companies SEMLs, (Sociétés d’Economie Mixte Locales) by New Caledonia and its provinces is governed by articles 53 and 53-1 respectively of organic law no. 99-209 of 19 March 1999, as amended, relating to New Caledonia: SEMs are competent to carry out development and construction projects, to operate industrial and commercial public services or any other activity of general interest. They may act on behalf of clients other than their shareholders, as well as on their own behalf, and may even have holdings in other commercial companies. Where the operational objectives or purposes of these semi-public companies includes several activities, these must be complementary.
Because of their special status, semi-public companies, SEMs have the advantage of combining public and private skills and funds to manage economic activities steered by public authorities to promote local development. Now that there are so many of them, the question of pooling SEMs has arisen. Joint discussions on certain targeted projects are beginning to take place between the 3 provinces, through NORD AVENIR, SODIL and PROMOSUD.
NORD AVENIR
Incorporated in January 2014 by the Northern Province subsequent the reorganisation of the SOFINOR Group, the local semi-public economic development company (SAEML) NORD AVENIR is a provincial scheme to support the densification of the economic fabric (excluding mining). As a driving force for diversification, it supports economic development in the Northern Province by backing local initiatives, with the aim of rebalancing the economy, in accordance with the guidelines set out in the Matignon-Oudinot agreements and the Nouméa Accord.
SODIL
The Loyalty Islands Development and Investment Company, SODIL, was set up in April 1991 by the Loyalty Islands Province, willing to equip itself with the infrastructure it needed to support its economic development. SODIL is active in several key sectors for the economic and social development of the Loyalty Islands, including agri-food, transport, tourism and project financing. It also supports citizen participation to encourage the involvement of local players in the economic, social and cultural life of the Territory.
PROMOSUD
The Southern Province Finance and Development Company PROMOSUD was established in 1992 by the South Province to backing the development of tourism sector. Its mission is also to finance the foundation and development of production and processing businesses. PromoSud particularly supports companies investing in promising sectors, such as marine resources and renewable energy, or in sectors where they are pioneers.
SMSP currently holds a 51% majority stake in two metallurgical plants, the Usine du Nord (Northern Plant), operated by the subsidiary Koniambo Nickel SAS (KNS), and the Gwangyang plant in South Korea operated by Société du Nickel de Nouvelle-Calédonie et Corée (SNNC). SMSP’s missions all have a common vision: Through innovative partnerships, we are committed to pursuing the optimal and sustainable development of New Caledonia’s resources for the benefit of the general interest.
